Working closely with two seasoned curators, Cynthia Burlingham from the Hammer Museum and Andrew Hunter from the Art Gallery of Ontario, he has organized a tightly focused, masterpiece-driven show, “The Idea of North,” to introduce the 20th-century Canadian painter Lawren Harris (1885-1970) to American museumgoers. It opens on Oct. 11 in Los Angeles before traveling to Boston and Toronto.
“Mountains in Snow: Rocky Mountain Paintings VII” by Canadian artist Lawren Harris. Credit The Thomson Collection/Art Gallery of Ontario
“He’s Canada’s greatest artist and nobody in America knows who he is, with a few exceptions,” said Mr. Martin, 70, who sees the show as a chance to use “my celebrity face” to try to draw attention to the painter he sees as a counterpart to Georgia O’Keeffe and Marsden Hartley.